WA Open gets underway at Mt Lawley
The WA Open tees off this morning with a couple of local boys keen on regaining some form.
Mount Lawley Golf Club, 18th hole. Image courtesy of Mt.Lawley GC.Peter Lonard, Nick O’Hern, James Nitties and Michael Sim are all part of the John Hughes Nexus Risk Services WA Open Championship that tees off at Mount Lawley Golf Club in Perth this morning.
Western Australian-born O’Hern has just come off a rough year in the US where he failed to keep his PGA Tour card for the first time since 2005. For most of the year his scoring wasn’t disastrous at all and made 6 of 9 starts where he ranked 1st in driving accuracy and 13th in greens in regulation but it was his short game that let him down.
“I didn’t keep my card this year which was the first time ever,” O’Hern told the PGA of Australia.
“I probably played as good as I ever have this year but the putting let me down.”
O’Hern ranked 173rd for putting strokes gained in his nine events but he should get some confidence out of the WA Open at Mount Lawley this week, a place where he won the Mount Lawley Championship in 1991, just as he was on the cusp of his professional career.
We’re also pleased to see the name Michael Sim in the field for his home tournament. Sim has endured some rough times on the golf course since being proclaimed as one of Australia’s next golfing superstars. Sim claimed a top-20 finish at the US Open and won three times on the Nationwide Tour in 2009, propelling him on to the big stage PGA Tour but from there, things began to unravel.
He failed to keep his tour card and eventually lost his Web.com status in 2012 missing 9 cuts in his fourteen starts. We’ll be keeping a close eye on Sim this summer to see if the 28-year-old can regain some form.
Entry into the tournament is a gold coin donation with all proceeds going to Carers Australia.
For all news, tee times and scores from the John Hughes Nexus Risk Services WA Open Championship please visit pga.org.au/wa-open
